Chapter Three
New York City
“Where the hell am I?”
Vincent took almost a month traveling across the United States to find the New York City. He’d only been here once and that was before he even discovered his real identity. It must have been almost half a century now, but it felt as though it had just been yesterday. He swept a glance across the street, turning his head to all corners, stunned at how things had changed. This city of leisure wasn’t like this before. Though it had its fair share of beauty, it wasn’t as developed and high-tech as it was today.
The tall buildings intimidated him and the bright lights blinded him, making him blink repeatedly. The crowd looked at him from head to toe as if he’d come from a different planet. His clothes were dirty and rugged. His face and whole body were a mess. Mud stains covered his shirt which he stole from a random household. His pants were ripped and barely covered anything but his manhood. There was a hole in the crotch, but he couldn’t care less. At least he had something to wear.
Standing in the middle of the pedestrian crossing while observing people walk didn’t serve to his advantage. The traffic light turned green and the cars drove passed him. As the horns started beeping, he became perplexed and he felt as though his eardrums were going to split in half from such loud noise. He covered his ears and closed his eyes. The crowd screamed and yelled at him to get out of the way, but he was too confused to know what to do. He’d been so accustomed to the way of living in the forest that he’d forgotten the civilized world he’d come from.
The crowd kept on yelling for him to get out of the way and run to the opposite side of the street where he could be much safer, but he heard nothing but the noise of the cars beeping at him. His animal instinct was kicking in as his adrenaline rush urged him to scare them away. But Lucas’ command to never show his true nature came ringing in his ears. He was left with no choice. He had to endure the pain. That was part of the package.
“Stop! Please, stop!” he yelled at them, but it was of no use. His head ached as his vision blurred. He was at the point of collapse and his weak body had become even weaker by the heat that sucked his strength. He hadn’t eaten for a week now and the temptation was at its peak. A child was enough to quench his hunger, but he was not a bloodsucker to commit such crime. Should he dare to lay a finger on humans for the sake of satisfying his appetite, the sun won’t rise on him ever again.
He felt a set of hands grab hold of him. He opened his eyes and the sunlight was so bright he could barely keep his eyes open. Sweat dripped down his forehead and his whole body was soaking wet. He stank and smelled like a dead rat, decaying in a creek. His hair was dirty and dry. The grip on his arms tightened and when he turned around, he saw two men employed in a weird looking uniform. They had guns and handcuffs on them.
He was pulled over. The police officers seized him by the arm and dragged him out of the road, but Vincent wouldn’t go without a fight. He struggled and fought his way out. He pulled his arms away and glared at them, his eyes turned black and his fangs came out. In shared panic, they stepped back and pulled their guns out. They pointed them at him.
“Don’t move!” one of the police officers ordered.
Vincent did just as what he was told. He recognized the gun and what it could do. He was here for a very important mission, and he wouldn’t just let these culprits ruin it. His kind and the human kind were under the threat of the dark shadows so he thought they should play on the same side. They fought the same battle, but only him understood its depth.
“Put your hands at the back of your head. Now!”
He sighed. “What did I put myself into?” he whispered under his breath as he slowly raised his arms up that made the police officers step back. He paused and looked at them plainly before resting his hands on the back of his head.
“Get down.”
He looked at them with a puzzled look on his face. He couldn’t understand why he needed to kneel down when he’d already shown his cooperation to get things done quickly.
“I said get down, you faggot!” the police officer said, completely losing himself, though deep inside him he was frightened of Vincent.
He rolled his eyes and brought his knees to the ground. The police officers rushed toward him and pushed him down, pinning him against the hot asphalted ground. The other police officer handcuffed him brutally as he was elbowed and punched on the back, head, and neck.
“Get out of the way!” one of the motorists in front shouted, beeping his horn at them.
“Shut up, you freak! We’re doing our job for your ass’ sake, so be patient, you stupid piece of crap.” The police officer, the fattest among the two, spat on the ground as he glared at the motorist. His cholesterol melted through his skin and he was soaking wet with his own sweat like a pig. Actually, he really looked like a pig.
“Let’s go. We’re causing too much traffic here,” the other police officer said.
Vincent kept quiet and suppressed his temper. Taking things too personally would jeopardize his mission and risk his whole pack and prove himself a complete failure. What he needed to do now was to learn how to act like a normal human. But by the looks of it, it might take him longer than he’d hoped.
They pulled and dragged him to the patrol car, throwing him inside without any care. Sitting in a nice and comfortable vehicle was way better than standing on the road under the heat of the sun. At least now, he could be fed with a decent meal and drink clean water.
***
Vincent sat quietly, observing his surroundings. His eyes rolled left to the right, taking notes of how humans do things. He was tied to the chair with a thick rope, his hands were still handcuffed, and his feet were also tied up. He looked like a wild boar, ready to be grilled any moment now.
And such indecent handling of a criminal caught the eyes of Samantha, a university student at Harvard. She was pursuing a degree in human rights and the way this police department handled things did not impress her. Not at all. She stood up and headed to the fat police officer handling the case.
As she got closer, Vincent turned his eyes to her and a sense of an unexplainable feeling of delight overwhelmed him. His heartbeat raced out of his ribcage, disallowing him to breathe with ease. His skin hair stood up. He suddenly felt cold and his face turned red tomato. He was blushing as Samantha got even closer and stood before him. He stooped down and kept his eyes on the floor, playing with his fingers like a little boy.
“Is it really necessary to tie him up? I mean, look at him, he doesn’t even struggle to escape. You should untie him and put him in the cell instead, rather than tying him up like an animal. This is against human rights and you could be charged for it,” she said bravely.
The police officer smirked. “Hey, little girl, don’t tell me what to do, okay. You’ve got no idea what kind of person that man is, so get out of it. Go and get your homework done.”
Samantha rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe how this police department could be so cruel and rude! Her face turned red in anger.
“Where’s the head of the department? I need to speak to him. This can’t go on forever.”
“What can’t go on forever?” A familiar voice cut in from behind that made her turn around.
A sense of relief calmed her down. “Oh, thank goodness you came, Anna. I would’ve gone berserk.”
The fat police officer stood up and greeted Anna, bowing his head slightly. She was her mentor, the one teaching him how things were done in this department. “Welcome back, Chief.”
Anna smiled back at him and brought her attention to Samantha.
“What’s the matter?”
“Your department needs a serious briefing on how to treat people nicely, regardless of their criminal background,” she said within a couple of seconds.
Anna could barely follow what her little sister had said. “Ha?” She thought Samantha was talking some nonsense again. “We treat everyone nicely.”
“Oh, really? What about that?” She directed her eyes toward Vincent. He was motionless and his face looked as though he’d been emotionally abused. His eyes were red and his cheeks were deep and hollow. He was fairly skinny.
Anna was moved beyond measure. She felt ashamed and a feeling of anger stirred inside her. Her face grimaced and she suddenly felt indignant. Things should not be handled in this cruel manner, especially not in her department.
“Robert, why is he tied up?” she asked in an imperious way, sending shivers up his spine.
“He’s very rabid, chief. He’s like a fucked-up dog. He tried to bite us and he is quite strong for his size. I think he’s out of his mind,” he explained, trembling as sweat dripped down his forehead. He had a high regard for her because of the bravery she’d shown, risking her life for the service.
Samantha’s anger had slowly faded as things were explained. She looked at Vincent from head to toe, trying to read his mind. But he was a hard shell to break. His limited action and lack of speech did not give her so much information as to give her a clue of what kind of man he was. Vincent turned his head to her and their eyes locked. Quickly, she looked away and focused her attention on other things. Her heartbeat skipped and her pulse throbbed rapidly.
“Untie him,” Anna said at once as she made her way to her office. Her little sister tailed her, keeping her eyes away from Vincent.
Robert’s face looked astonished. “But chief, he’s not on his right mind. He might attack and bite me again.”
“You’ll do just fine.” Her words faded as they turned to the hallway.
It had been a month since that incident happened and she had recovered well enough to be back at work again. She cut down her hair to her shoulder’s level and dyed it brown. She used to have a blonde hair, but because of that incident, she decided to dye it dark – an accurate mirror of what she felt inside her. Her bruises were gone and her wounds had left scars, the signature of her legacy.
Samantha’s sudden words interrupted her train of thoughts.
“Did you feel something weird with that guy?”
Anna looked at her with a puzzled look on her face. “Ha?”
“That guy seems to be hiding something. He’s kind of intriguing to investigate…”
“Goodness gracious me! Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for Robert? Hey, he’s got a girlfriend and a kid. Find someone else,” she said, stunned at her little sister’s confession. Never in her wildest thought that Samantha would fall for such a man.
Her face turned dull. “What? Are you for real?” She took a deep breath and fanned herself with her hand. “It’s really hot in here. You guys need to upgrade your air-conditioning.”
Anna unlocked the door and pushed it open. “We don’t have enough budget for such luxury.”
“Anyways, it’s not that fat guy I’m talking about; I’m referring to that guy tied up on the stool.”
She turned on the lights and headed to her table. “Right. What about him?”
“He doesn’t seem very adept at how a normal person acts, which makes me feel like he’s from another planet or something. He doesn’t talk and acts like a little kid. I think he’s from another country.” She paused and organized her thoughts. “Maybe he’s a refugee or a victim of human trafficking? If this is the case, we’ve got ourselves in a very serious situation. We need to track down where he’s come from.”
Anna giggled quietly as she suppressed her laughter. She didn’t want to make her feel as though she was making fun of her. “Very well,” she said, not knowing what to make out of what Samantha had said.
“We have to dig into this case, Anna. I’ll help out.”
“Sure.” She glanced at her wristwatch and looked at her little sister. “Home time.”
“Already?” She took a closer look at her phone’s screen. “Can I stay a little longer? I really have to do my homework and it’s a long research and I need your help.”
“Nope. I’ve got a lot of things to do. I need a quality time on my own. Before you leave, mom says go and buy some milk and a loaf of bread at the grocery shop. It’s just across the road.”
Samantha sighed and rolled her eyes. She didn’t bother arguing with her because it was just a waste of time. When Anna said something, she meant every word of it and she wouldn’t take it back whatsoever. She made her exit and slammed the door shut.
Anna was all alone and that same nightmare that haunted her down brought itself to her remembrance. She grabbed hold of the photo frame and stared at it for a wee while. Tears welled up in her eyes. A cute little boy of around three years old was smiling, his cheeks were pink and he had emerald green eyes just like hers.
“Mommy misses you a lot, David. I’m sorry, my son. I’m sorry!” she cried out.